Relief valve tester



H. E. SIMONSON RELIEF VALVE TESTER Apfil 22, V1947.

Filed Oct. 14, 1943 ATTORNEYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 22, 1947. H. E.slMoNsoN- 2,419,293

RELIEF VALVE TESTER Filed Oct. 14, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v NVENTOR H.E.SIMONSON F/G-'4 ATTo NEY the valve body.

Patented Apr. 22, 1947 RELIEF VALVE TESTER Howard E. Simonson,Bartlesville, Okla., assignor to Phillips Petroleum Company, acorporation of Delaware Application October 14, 1943, Serial No. 506,237

This invention relates to the testing of valves, and has particularrelation to apparatus for the testing of safety valves on high pressurefluid containers by pulling the valve oil of its seat.

In the art of distributing iiuids under pressure in cylinders it is veryimportant to provide these cylinders witha pressure relief valve thatwill be sure to open if a safe pressure is exceeded by the uid insidethe cylinder. Even a single accident caused by the rupturing of acylinder in the distribution or use by the consumer of domesticcookinggas or industrial fuel gas, or other gases in cylinders mightvery well result in the loss of numerous customers or potentialcustomers. A test of the safety valve at reasonable time intervals isgood practice. The present invention makes this test with a minimum lossof gas and onlyv one filling and no bleeding off of the container'isnecessary afterwards as would be the casetif the cylinder were filleduntilY the valve openedby internal pressure alone.

It is an object of the present invention to test the safety'valve ineach cylinder after the cylinder is filled with fluid to see that thesafety valve is in. order and will operate at the desired reliefpressure.

Another object of my invention is to provide easily attached meanssimple in operation for testing safety valves of iluid cylinders. l

Another object is to provide hydraulic valve pulling means so that exactmeasurements of the forces involved may be made.

.Another object is to provide means whereby the safety valve may beadjusted if it should fail to seat properly after vbeing tested.

Numerous other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art byreading the specication andthe claims and studying the drawings of thisapplication.

In the drawings t o Figure 1 is an elevational view with parts in crosssection and parts broken away of a hy,-

draulic--jack valve-pulling embodiment of my invention applied tothesafety valve of a fluid pressure. cylinder.

'Figure 2'is aperspective view Vof the adapter employed in Figure 1 tomount the apparatus on Figure is an elevation of the yoke and hookshownin AFigure 1 with the hook rotated through anangle of 90.

Figure 4 is a view in perspective of the stand shown in Figure 1 onwhich the hydraulic jack is mounted.

In Figure 1, a cylinder 5 for transporting iiuids 4 Claims.

l under pressure is provided with a filling line 6 and a lling valve 1.The cylinder 5 is also provided with a test gage 3 and test gage valve9. When the cylinder is transported, valves I and 9 are closed and pipe6 and gage 8 are removed. Tank 5 is provided with a threaded nipple IIJto receive a safety valve body l I. To prevent accidents, tank 5 isprovided with a safety pressure relief valve composed of body I I, valveseat I2 and a valve head I3. The valve head is provided with a sealinggasket |11, a gasket compressing member I5, anrupwardly projecting screwstud I6 and a washer adjustment nut I1. The valve head I3 has a valvestem I3 depending therefrom, the valve stem being guided by fins I9 invalve body II and by collar 20. Valve steml I8 is provided with a screwthreaded end 2| and lock nuts 22 and 23 to secure spring engaging collar24 tothe valve stem. A spring 25 is under compression between sleeves2i) and 24 and tends to hold the "valve closed. Adjustment of lock nuts22 and v23 will adjust the compression of this spring and thereby theforce necessary to open the safety valve I3. v

The upper end of stud I6 is slabbed off to a substantially square end 26and a pull ring 21 may be screwed on stud I6 for the purpose of making atest of the force necessary to open the safety valve I3.

While a particular type of valve has been shown it is obvious that othertypes kof valves could be used as long as they opened upwardly and had ascrew threaded portion I6 to be engaged by the pulling ring 21.

The apparatus for pulling the valve i3 open consists of a pulling ring2l on the valve and an adaptersleeve 23'on the valve body II, theremainder of the apparatus being supported on the adapter sleeve andengaging the pulling ring.r By employing diiferent sizes yof adaptersthe same pulling apparatus may be used to test different` sizes ofvalves.

Adapter sleeve 23 supports stand 29 which 4is removably secured theretoby bolts 30 and wing nuts'SI. Adapter 23'has a rectangular slot 32 inthe side thereof to provide access to the nut I'I for adjusting it withan end wrench.V

VStand 29 supports a hydraulic jack 33, the jack being removably securedto the stand by wing nuts 34 and bolts 35.

Hydraulic jack 33 is provided with a'jack handle 33 for pumping uppressure in pump 3l and with a pressure gage 33 for indicating thepressure in the cylinder of jack 33. Jack 33 has a movable 3 pistonmember 39 which is forced upward by oil from pump 31.

In the center of piston 39 is provided a circular depression and a sharppointed pivot pin 40 rests in this depression. Pivot pin 40 is securedto a square yoke frame 4l by means of nut 42, the pivot pin passingthrough the frame. In the lower part of 4frame 4| a hook 43 is centrallylocated. Hook 4'3 has a screw threaded shank 44 passing through theframe and a flange 45 is formed in the shank. The hook is secured inplace by washer 46 and lock nuts 47 and 48.

In Figure 2 screws 4S are provided in the adapter sleeve flange 50 tohelp in lining up holes 5I with holes 52 in the flange of the stand 29.

In Figure 4 the stand 29 is seen to have a flared lower portion 53 and acentral "slot 54 is provided to allow yoke 4l `to operate inside thestand. Plates 55 having holes 56 are provided on the top of the standfor receiving nuts 35 to attach jack 33` Y Operation The test 'apparatusbeing assembled in 'the ymanner vshown vin Figure '1 and "tank V5 being"filledwith its normal shippingload of fluid under lpressu're, valve 9is opened 'so thatpressure'gage a will register the pressure of the numin the cylinder 5. Pump handle 36 is then pumped up l'and down Aunt-il`valve I3 is unseated enoughto `A'startteleak. Pump handle 35 should beoperated'v'e'ry slowly between the time whenV hook 43 first contactsring 1l and this rst leak. The test ishade atthe rst leak'of the valveand not at the pressure Vat which it would pop o'pn, because it would befthe first leak that would annoy the customer, who naturally does not'want a leaky gas cylinder around his house.

l V'When the first leak occurs pressure gage 38 is read.

w VThe 'relation between these pressuresv is as follows:

R =T+ PB- F-B "R isftheireiief 'pressure'at kwhich the valve will jopen;Tisthe tank pressure shown `on gagef8; 1P is the' pressurev in thehydraulic jackshow'n on "gageV 38; B is the`areaof the hydraulicjackcylinder; F is the pressure in thehydraulic jack cylinder necessaryto overcome'friction in the jjackandithe `weightof frame 4| "andjrelated ""As AandB are constants and Fisa' constant for the particularjack, the gage38 lcan be calibrated in pounds, so that by'adding thereading 'of gage' to the reading of 'gage' 8 the relief f'pressure maybefound 'without further calcula- 4 28 are unscrewed from Valve stem I6and valve body Il respectively and cylinder 5 is ready to be shipped tothe customer with the assurance that the safety valve is in properoperating condition.

Alternative construction and changes in design of certain parts willobviously be within the scope of my invention which is dened by the.following claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

l. A jack for pulling relief valves comprising in combination ahydraulic cylinder, a piston in the cylinder, a pump for supplyingpressure liuid to move rthe piston, a rectangular frame resting on thepiston and passing beneath the cylinder, and a support Vfor the cylindercomprising an adapter to t the relief valve and a split support havingtwo legs one on eachV side of the rectangular frame, the adaptersupporting the support on the valve and the support supporting thecylinder on 'the adapter.

2. A jack for pulling relief valves comprising in combination acylinder, a piston in the cylinder, a rectangular frame resting ontheipiston and'passing beneath the cylinder, and a support forithecylinder comprising an adapter to t the'relief valve and 'a splitsupporthaving twolegs 'oneon each side of the rectangular frame, ,thev'adapter supporting the support on the valve kandithe Isupportsupporting the cylindercn the adapter.

3. A jack for ypulling .relief'valves comprising in 'combination acylinder, a piston in thecylinder, a 4rectangular frame resting 'on thepiston and passing beneath the cylinder, and az'support for the cylindercomprising a split supporthaving two legs one on each side ofthe,rectangular frame.

4. A jack forpulling relief valvespomprising in combination a hydrauliccylinder, a piston in the cylinder, a pump for supplying pressure Yiluidto move the piston, a substantially :rectangular frame resting Yonl theA.piston and :passing Ibeneath the cylinder, a support: for thecylinderrcomprising an adapter having a cylindrical .portion threaded tofit the ,relief Avalve anda Yspacing support member, the adaptersupporting the spacin'gsupport member onzthe Valve and the spacing'support' member supporting the. cylinder on the adapter,saidspacing'support member being Vcut awayV to allow said rectangularframe to hang freely from saidpiston and to operate out of contact withsaid support, andrmeans. onrsaid rectangular frame below saidcylinderforsengagingla portion of said valve.

HOWARD .SIMONSON REFERENCES CITED The 4following references are-of-record in'the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES -PATENTS 'Number Name Date 985,213 Shigley -f Y Feb, 28,1911 1,616,728 -Willo'ughby Y "Feb. 8;"1927 2,113,725 Goldman .'Apr. 12,1938 KV2,178,901 Webster ..Nov." 7, 1939 A1,367,133 Guillery Feb.1,:1921 2,227,961 Caughey I Janiy 7,1 1941 V'2,258,224 'Sheppard -aCoti-7, 1941 1,637,743 Fine Aug.i2," 1927 2,075,968 I-Ieydekampf fApr.'6,i1937

